Lanny Davis: Obama wrong on Redskins name

A representative for the Washington Redskins said Monday that President Barack Obama has “better things to worry about” than the team’s name and questioned why he hasn’t commented about a certain Chicago hockey team.

“President Obama has better things to worry about, but he should look at the Chicago Blackhawks who won the Stanley Cup and he’s never said a word about them,” Lanny Davis, an attorney for the Redskins, said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

Obama on name change

“He’s unaware of the data. He’s expressing an opinion. He happens to be wrong in not knowing about the data. If he knew about the data, I’m looking forward to him saying, ‘You know, now that I know from Lanny Davis about the data, I favor the Washington Redskins because there is not a sizable group [offended by the name], by my own criteria.’ So I don’t know why he spoke out at a time like this, but I’m glad that he’s using that criteria, by that criteria, no name change is necessary,” Davis said.

The poll Davis referred to, conducted in April by The Associated Press, showed that nearly four out of five Americans do not think the Redskins should change their name.

He also said that Obama hasn’t criticized his own hometown team is “selective decision.”

“I do wonder why he’s not talking about the Chicago Blackhawks who won the Stanley Cup or the Atlanta Braves … it is a selective decision,” Davis said.

When asked if he was disappointed at Obama going against Redskins owner Dan Snyder, Davis said: “Actually he is not going against the client if you listen to his words. He said ‘if a sizable group is offended’...By his criteria, thank you President Obama, the name should not be changed.”

Davis’s comments follow an interview with the AP published Saturday in which the president said he’d be “open” to a name change for the Redskins.

“If I were the owner of the team and I knew that the name of my team, even if they’ve had a storied history, that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” Obama said.

In a call with POLITICO Davis said: “I’m a strong supporter of President Obama and his policies and did not mean to be disrespectful.”